


The Greyly Painted Miles

by theflyjar



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst and Fluff and Smut, College, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Introversion, Light Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Romance, but not a long distance relationship at the same time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 14:26:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8536672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theflyjar/pseuds/theflyjar
Summary: Even when they're minutes away from each other, it feels like hours and Yixing doesn't like it.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Soapbubblesoul](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soapbubblesoul/gifts).



> This is likely to have weekly or bi-weekly updates, I hope you enjoy it!

A vision of growth.

That's what Yixing should have seen when he considered university through his years of high school. Get good grades, go to a decent school and take on an internship that would turn into something more. It probably would have sounded easy if he thought of it like that. Three categories to get through, three main goals and one ultimate result. Everything would have been easier to process if he broke it down into simple step and segments, those were always far more digestible than allowing his thoughts to ramble.

At least, that's what he would have done if he was a pragmatist.

But Yixing was ever the optimist with idealistic tendencies.

He was a jumble of ideas that were all bursting to escape. It was why music was everything to him. He could have a day where numerous songs would pop into his mind and there were melodies that stayed in his head for hours on end.

Anybody who spent more than ten minutes with him could see how his mind moved constantly. He worked hard, so much so he usually only stopped doing something important when he was forced to, there was never a sense of burden when Yixing thought for himself but there were often too many to go through. He wasn’t in any way stupid, he was a little slow when he was exhausted but that took nothing away from his intelligence.

He thought of the best outcomes, he aimed for the best outcomes and he often got the best outcomes. His optimism, idealism and the hard work he put in to achieve his dreams were all he needed to be successful in his life at that point.

The new student ordered his things in his drawers and ignored when his phone buzzed at irregular intervals during the half an hour it took to get all of his clothes into the smaller than average wardrobe. The dorm room was simple and clear of any kind of permanent personality, all the colour came from his own belongings and the seemingly soccer-crazed roommate he had been paired with.

When he had first walked in, he had been greeted with a note on his bare mattress telling him that he'd run out to get some food because he didn't know of any nearby restaurants or takeout places. Yixing thought his roommate's handwriting was nice, he took that as a good sign. People who had neat handwriting were good people. He was sure.

Once he was finally done organising himself, he crawled over his newly made bed and picked up his phone that was charging on the pillow. He smiled when he looked at the screen and saw who had messaged him.

  
_Message(s) from_ 老公~♡: 

_\- have u unpacked yet?_

\- _my roommate isnt here until tomorrow_

 _-_ _do u want to stay over?_

 

Yixing smiled down at his phone and tapped on the bar to enter his reply as quickly as he could.

 

_Message(s) to_ 老公~♡:

\- _i just finished ヽ(´ー｀)ﾉ what about you?_

\- _mine is here but left a note to say_ hes _out getting food_

\- _i want to meet him. i can stay over on the weekend_

 

_Message(s) from_ 老公~♡:

\- _i have. do you have my jersey? i can't find it_

\- _ok_

\- _i'll be here_

\- _on my own_

\- _doing nothing_

\- _because my boyfriend thinks i'm a loser_

\- _because i don't have any friends_

\- _because ur mean_

\- ('A`)

- _but yes come over on the weekend_

- _or sooner_

- _the weekend is so far away_

 

_Message(s) to_ 老公~♡: 

- _the black one? i have it_

- _do you need it?_

- _you /are/ a loser_

- _lets see what classes are like first_

- _but i'll see if i can come see you then_

 

_Message(s) from_ 老公~♡: 

- _no keep it_

- _u look cute in it_

- _i'm ur loser (｡♥‿♥｡)_

- _ok i'll send u my timetable when i get it_

 

_Message(s) to_ 老公~♡: 

\- _ty its v comfy i'll probs sleep in it_

\- _and it still smells a little like you_

\- _why did i_ _pick you? you're so lame_

\- _ditto_

 

A key was inserted into the lock on the door to the room and he typed out his next messages as fast he could.

 

_Message(s) to_ 老公~♡:

\- _i think my rm is here_

- _talk to you later_

- _if your rm isnt there then go meet your neighbours!!!_

- _or i'll come over and beat you and ur introvert ass up_

- _i love you_

 

_Message(s) from_ 老公~♡: 

- _sounds kinky_

- _maybe i want that_

- _will u spank me & my introvert ass? _

- _seriously though, have fun baobei_

- _i'm smiling thinking abt u sleeping in my jersey♡_

- _i hope u get along. they could be ur new best friend so u dont miss me so much_

- _i love u too_

 

The responses came fast, as they always did, and Yixing managed to greet his roommate with a smile because of it.

"Hello, I'm Zhang Yixing," he knew his dimple was showing, that was always a good start.

"I'm Lu Han," his roommate greeted somewhat nervously.

Lu Han had black hair that was styled to be longer in the front than the back, his bangs hung down onto his brown and his eyes were wide and large. All in all, he was one of the most handsome men Yixing had ever met. His skin was so clear that Yixing half wanted to rub his hands and his own face on it.

"What are you studying?" Yixing asked as he tried to fend off awkwardness and he enjoyed the way his roommate's face lit up.

"I'm a Performing Arts student," Lu Han moved forward and sat on his bed with his carrier bag by his side, Yixing mirrored the action with his own movements and he observed how the other slowly relaxed. "How about you?"

"Music Technology and Popular Music Performance," Yixing responded proudly and Lu Han's hands clapped together excitedly.

"I bought some dinner," Lu Han gestured to the bag he'd placed down beside himself. "Want some?"

"What is it?"

Lu Han's hand disappeared into the bag and brought out a tub of ice cream that Yixing recognised and loved.

Yixing's eyebrows raised themselves. "Ice cream?”

"Hey, it's made of milk and milk has calcium, and calcium is beneficial to the human body. I will have you know," Lu Han sounded scandalised but Yixing knew it was in jest, the other had that obvious glint of playfulness in his eyes.

Yixing bent down into his backpack and pulled out a litre bottle of chocolate milkshake and two straws. "In for a penny, in for a pound with the sharing?"

"I'm in for my whole life savings if there's chocolate milk involved."

"You know what? I think we're going to get along very well," Yixing smiled at Lu Han as he opened up the carton of ice cream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 老公 - Slang - ‘Husband’


	2. October, One

Yixing discovered that his roommate had abnormal habits within the first few days. At first, Yixing thought they were anomalies, strange things that the other would do to make himself more comfortable in the dorm or a weird reaction to living on his own for the first time. The younger of the two had guessed that the freedom of being able to decide things for himself had gone to Lu Han’s head.

Those said habits had caused Yixing to send his boyfriend numerous messages with the content of things along the lines of:

 

_‘he puts strawberry jam w/ rice noodles??? what the hell’_

_'oh my god i think i just walked in on him waxing his balls??? save me baobei’_

_‘he was up until three in the morning sorting his tea collection. i think he was also sniffing them. either that or he was crying over those little leaves. i couldn’t tell’_

 

However, as those occurrences increased, Yixing was certain that he was living with somebody who liked to do out of the ordinary things. The Performing Arts major had his quirks, as Yixing was sure he had his, but the two of them grew closer as they spent more time together. With their working departments in the same building, they would walk to and from classes and lectures together, they’d club in with one another to buy food or get coffee and Yixing felt like he could share almost anything with his roommate.

He’d even managed to disclose his sexual orientation, and relationship status, within the first three days. Which was a record for the shortest amount of time for that trust being built strongly enough to share such a thing—well, apart from with his boyfriend.

Their closeness was natural, almost as if they were platonic soulmates who had found each other amongst the fray of other students.

Even when they introduced Zhongda, a loud but excessively endearing Korean who’d lived in China since he was twelve, into their group of three, the two of them remained as close as they could be. Not that Zhongda seemed to care, he spent most of his time focusing on becoming the best vocal student the university had ever seen and crushing on third-year girls that were just too unattainable for him, a lowly first year.

The three of them spent their time together, often wasting it in those awkward hours between lectures and it that was the only upside to Yixing’s timetable. With everything else, his schedule was a nightmare.

Late classes on Fridays were where the real burden lay. He couldn’t plan things on the weekends with his boyfriend because there would be no time to travel between his university and his boyfriend’s without commuting alone at night. Not something he felt anywhere near bold enough to do just yet.

The shift from high school to college was in the fact that he went from spending all day and every other evening with his boyfriend to containing their relationship to text messages and muttered conversations at night while Lu Han tended to his teas. Yixing's whole life had shifted under his feet and suddenly the forty minute journey from one campus to the other felt like four thousand miles of distance stretched out in front of him.

Of course, having two of the most attentive friends on the campus was a major helping factor for him. They listened to him whine and complain about how he missed his boyfriend, how he wished he could see him more often and how he feared how the other was faring without him.

"I'm sure he's made loads of friends," Lu Han assured as Yixing's phone remained dark on the nightstand between their two beds. "Look at you, you've met two incredible people in your first week. He's probably done the same."

Yixing wished he could have shared that certainty but he knew his boyfriend, he was a homebody who didn't like interacting with other people because it drained him to the point of exhaustion. Apparently, Yixing had been the only person who didn't sap every ounce of his life-force.

"It's hard to not make friends at college when you live on campus," Zhongda cleverly pointed out and it put Yixing at a little more ease.

In fact, his boyfriend had been placed in the dorm block with a bundle of foreign students. His university placed all of their best linguists into the building to promote communications between the native attendees and the foreigners. The scheme appeared to work when Yixing would receive messages asking if he knew where there were any good Japanese or Korean food restaurants in the city. Thankfully, Yixing had Zhongda on hand to direct him to where the latter option was and Yixing received photos of _Gogigui_ , _Bindaetteok_ and _Nakji Bokkeum_ on an infrequent basis—all of which had Zhongda’s bottom lip quivering in want and memory of the taste.

“And if he’s with foreign students, they’re going to flock to more native speakers,” Lu Han surmised and Zhongda was more than enough to confirm that fact with his head bobbing in agreement.

Even though he had spent the entirety of his teenage years in China, the language with its tones and absent alphabet was still a challenge for him. It wasn’t helped when Yixing and Lu Han accidentally slipped into their dialects every so often, it was more than enough to confuse him and yell out in Korean that Chinese was far too difficult.

“Don’t worry so much,” Zhongda muttered from the floor between the two beds in Yixing’s dorm room, “you’ll smother him and he needs this time to grow.”

“He’s already been out those few times he sent us photos of the food, so there’s that,” Yixing reasoned with himself, flicking his phone unlocked and checking over his messages for the messages he’d received.

“Exactly.”

“And it’s not like he’s living hours away, if you get so worried then you can always go to his campus for a few hours.” Zhongda stood up from the floor and scooted Lu Han across his bed to lay down by his side. “I’m sure he wouldn’t say no to seeing you, not when you text each other across every waking moment.”

“You’re adjusting, give you both some time to get used to being out of high school and apart from one another.”

Yixing frowned when he thought about being separated from his boyfriend for so long while he was so close. They’d childishly dated between the ages of six and ten, right up until the older of the two had moved to Canada—but even then e-mail and the development of Weibo had kept them in close contact—then they’d fallen seamlessly back together upon the other’s return at the age of sixteen.

When asked, Yixing always included the six years they’d lived on different continents as part of their relationship because neither had dated or expressed an interest in anybody else during that time. At least, to Yixing’s knowledge anyway.

But still, Yixing knew he had no control over the distance when he’d been younger but he was eighteen, funded by a healthy scholarship and more than capable of getting the subway during the daylight hours. He had the control to visit the other, to feel him closer and yet, the hours of the day slipped through his fingers every time.

“I just miss him,” Yixing finally admitted and Zhongda’s hand landed on his shoulder to squeeze it gently.

“We know, that’s normal.”

Yixing didn’t want it to be normal.

 

«           »

 

Classes, while varied and interesting, dragged on as the first three weeks shifted by and as his last lecture on a Friday evening drew to a close, Yixing felt exhaustion slither down his back. He’d not been sleeping well, not without the warmth of another body much larger than his own. He’d not been eating well, not without the pestering of another person telling him to have his dinner. (Text messages just weren’t the same.) He’d not been _satisfying_  himself well enough, not without the touch of hands bigger and rougher than his own.

Lu Han and Zhongda were waiting for him in the dorm room with their bodies clad in more attractive clothing than normal, given their plans for the evening. Yixing was relieved to see them both there with their eyes kohl'ed and skin was given a little lift from the odd dab of concealer or CC cream. They had both been reluctant to go along with Yixing’s plans for that Friday evening. Neither of them were exactly enthralled by the idea of going out on a Friday when they could have maintained their tradition of watching Disney films while they ate their respective body weights in popcorn and cotton candy.

Basketball, it seemed, was not their thing.

Had it been soccer, Lu Han would have dived straight into agreeing to Yixing’s plans but the Music Technology student was the only one who knew the simplest of rules to the game.

“It will be fun,” Yixing had said.

“Fun for us? Or, fun for you?” They had countered.

“All of us,” Yixing had clarified.

That last statement may have been a little bit of a lie. Going to the basketball game was entirely self-indulgent, he just didn’t want to go and sit in the stands on his own. So with a jersey labelled with the number 10 pulled over his shoulders, Yixing started on his own makeup and appeared to have put in a little more effort than the other two. He knew that they had noticed but said nothing of it as they all made their way out of the building and into the courtyard their dorm surrounded.

“This better be good, ge,” Zhongda grumbled into his hands as his breath steamed up in the air.

It was uncharacteristically cold for the time of year but Yixing didn’t mind it so much, and he was the one in the vested shirt. Not the thick coats that the other two were dressed up in.

“It’s not even that cold,” Yixing drew the other closer and Yixing could feel all of the heat floating around Zhongda on his bare arms.

Maybe it was a little colder than he had expected, it wasn’t something he was prepared to be deterred by. They would be indoors soon enough with how closely they lived to the gymnasium. The night was dark, the streetlights shone all down the roadway that led towards the already bustling court and Yixing felt the anticipation in the bottom of his stomach that he hadn’t felt in the months since he’d left his old school.

“Is this a big game?” Zhongda enquired, he clearly had not remembered Yixing saying that it was a pre-season friendly between their school and another from the city.

“No,” Lu Han chipped in. He had listened. “Xing already said it’s a prep match before the competitive ones begin in November.”

“Oh, right, yeah,” Zhongda nodded his head and huddled up even closer to Yixing’s side as they made their way through the main doors at the front of the building.

They found some seats in the centre of a middle row, they were good for seeing everything with less of a chance of being showered over with sweat the game became more intense and the players strayed to the boundaries while not being far enough away to be blocked by the people standing up in front of them. Yixing had hundreds of games and practices under his belt to know where to sit and observe a game of basketball.

As per the Music Technology student’s request, Lu Han had brought along a backpack stuffed full of drinks and snacks. Yixing knew better than anybody else to not let himself be open to the rip-off that were the vendors who charged ridiculous amounts for meagre offerings of food and cans of carbonated drinks. They were only sat down for a few minutes before both teams were out on the court down in front of them.

The polished floor squeaked under the odd shoe, though even that was often too quiet to be heard over the loud chatter of the audience and the pep talks from the coaches and captains. Yixing searched through the players in hopes of seeing a bold print of a number ten on a familiar physique and he couldn’t stop smiling when he did.

Not too strangely, there were not eyes searching for him in response. He knew how important it was to a player to not be distracted by anything outside of the match, and seeing how full the court-side was, Yixing knew that the friendly was being treated more like a local derby.

With the first whistle blown, Yixing was slightly disappointed to find that his favourite wasn’t in the starting line-up but he didn’t stop chewing on his lip when he watched the exchanges between the two teams. He wasn’t entirely certain of who he should support. His new school’s team was good but not _great_ , Yixing doubted they would be setting the world on fire in the upcoming season. Maybe doing just well enough to sit comfortably in the middle of the rankings by the finals. However, his favourite player was on the other team.

All that uncertainty slipped away when a number ten slipped onto the court and slotted straight into the point guard position on the rounded lip of the three point line. That’s when Yixing felt himself inching to the edge of his seat and pledging his allegiance to the school opposing his own.

It was a slight shock for Yixing to watch the game split into two twenty minute halves, instead of the eight minute quarters he was used to. The game was longer, his voice was far more hoarse by the end and his two friends stared at him like he had grown tentacles from his back since he had stepped into the gymnasium.

“When you said you liked basketball—” Zhongda started.

“—we didn’t think that meant you’d be so passionate that we wouldn’t put it past you to sacrifice your firstborn child to the sport,” Lu Han completed with their Korean friend nodding along enthusiastically.

“That bad?” Yixing cringed slightly and the other two confirmed it with their uncertain clutches on the snack bag.

“I think we should leave, I don’t like what being here does to my gege,” Zhongda pretend shuddered and Yixing didn’t know why he didn’t take up Performing Arts with Lu Han because it was strangely believable.

“Yes, I think my didi needs some fresh air. All this sweat smog has made him delirious.”

The three of them clambered down and out of the stands, it took almost twenty minutes to make it off the court. With the players off into the changing rooms, Yixing’s eyes weren’t glancing at the back towards the tunnel but at the mass of people in front of them. Hundreds of students were trying to make their way out of one set of double doors and squabbles could be heard echoing through the hall.

Once they were outside, the bitter cold nibbled at Yixing’s bare arms and Zhongda gave him a smug look as he wrapped himself up in his jacket and Lu Han merely laughed at Yixing’s misfortune of being caught on one of the coldest autumn nights of the year.

They all locked down the walkway to the direction of the dorm blocks and the eldest took the opportunity to pose a question, “Are you guys tired yet?”

“Not really,” Zhongda muttered and Yixing replied with the same sentiment.

“Want to hit some bars? We’ve not done that since we got here.”

Yixing saw no reason to say no, none of them had found or followed the urge to go out drinking and it wasn’t an opportunity to be missed with all that adrenaline still in his blood.

The Music Technology student shrugged his shoulders, “I’m up for that.”

“Same,” the Korean smiled and Yixing could see deviousness there.

As they made their way down the street, they passed by many of their fellow students until it was just them making their way around the gym. Yixing observed how Lu Han’s shoulders rose up defensively when a low wolf whistle echoed through the air in their direction. Their three pairs of eyes flashed over to where the sound had come from and the eldest scoffed while Zhongda tugged on Yixing’s arm to draw them all away from where the freshly washed basketball players were flowing out of the building.

Yixing, on the other hand, saw the source of the whistle and couldn’t help the smile that etched onto his face. He pried himself away from Zhongda and Lu Han made a strangled noise as he reached out to pull Yixing back a little too late, he was already away and advancing towards the player he had his eyes set on.

He didn’t stop moving, in fact, he sped up until he was halted by the force of a larger body. Arms wrapped around his waist, fingers clung to the jersey he was draped in and he wished he could tilt his head up to initiate a greeting kiss. Given their audience, he refrained from exercising anything but friendly contact and pulled away before the hug could be deemed inappropriate by onlookers.

“Yixing,” the voice he had only heard on the phone in the past weeks spoke directly into his ear. “Xing-ah.”

He looked up at the taller and felt his face heat up under the eyes he’d missed looking into. “I missed you.”

The words were whispered, as was the echo from the other’s mouth but an equally gentle _‘too’_ was tacked onto the end.

“Where are you headed to?” The player asked and Yixing turned to point at his two friends who were awkwardly stood with their mouths hung open in confusion and half-horror.

“Some bars,” Yixing licked his lips, “to celebrate.”

“But your team lost,” the tall male teased.

“Yes.” Yixing nodded. “Yours didn’t, though. And, that’s the one that matters.”

In the dim light of the gym’s outdoor light, Yixing could see a smile that still blinded his heart into skittering in its beat. A hand squeezed around his fingers and his palm instantly opened up to the touch as if it was preparing itself to be held.

“Sorry I didn’t look out for you, I was nervous enough playing my first game and knowing you were certainly there would have made it worse,” two fingers reached out to twiddle with the bottom of Yixing’s jersey, a habit the elder had picked up long ago.

“Why would me being there make you nervous? I’ve seen you play hundreds of times,” Yixing’s hands itched all the more to draw the body in front of him even closer than it currently was. He wanted them to be pressed up against each other and murmuring into one another’s ears.

“I still want to impress you.”

If there was anything that happened when Yixing spent time apart from his boyfriend, it was that they were starkly honest to one another as soon as they could speak directly. They’d come up with the idea to help the other not feel like an idiot if they were feeling particularly sensitive about something.

Yixing made a whining noise in the back of his throat. “You did impress me, I was in awe the whole time. You played so well.”

"Really?" The eyebrows on the face above Yixing's rose upwards and the shorter nodded enthusiastically. "I thought I did, too. I'm glad you agree."

"I would have asked Lu-ge or Zhongda but they know nothing about basketball," Yixing gestured back to his friends and he watched the taller look past his shoulder at them.

"Are they your friends over there?"

"Yeah."

"Can I meet them?"

Yixing automatically stepped back and continued making his way to the two people idly stood a few metres away, he smiled when somebody followed him closely behind and he saw the perplexion on his friends' faces as he drew towards them.

"Xing, who is this?" Lu Han's eyes were calculating and serious. It was almost parent-like and it made Yixing bite his cheeks to resist laughing.

"This is my boyfriend, Yifan," Yixing whispered those words, ensuring the other players in Yifan's team couldn't hear him. "He plays basketball."

"You're the one Xing kept staring at during the game!" Zhongda helpfully yelled out and Lu Han's hand swung over his loud mouth instantly.

"A little quieter, please," the eldest muttered half threateningly. "We don't need the whole block knowing."

"But anyway, the loud one is Zhongda—but you know Korean, so his name in Korean is Jongdae—and this Lu Han, he's your gege," Yixing indicated between his two friends and Yifan's eyes flicked between them all in understanding. "And yes, he is the one I was staring at during the game, he's the reason why we were there."

"Did you know that your boyfriend is a very scary person when he gets competitive?" Lu Han asked Yifan, he looked up at the tall newcomer and Yixing enjoyed watching Yifan shyly flush as he became the central focus.

"He was yelling, crushing my shoulder and spilling drinks in the process," Zhongda tilted his body towards Yifan to undo his coat and show him where his shirt was covered in the water Yixing had accidentally tossed over him when the referee missed a clear foul.

"Ye-yeah," Yifan stuttered. "He once got sent out of a high school game I was playing in because he threatened one of the officials from the side of the court."

"That guy was an idiot, don't get me started," Yixing snorted indignantly

"Where has our cute little friend gone?"

"He's only like this about basketball and dancing," Yifan assured them and both Yixing's friends turned to stare at him with widened eyes.

" _Dancing?_ " the two of them exclaimed at once and Yixing edged closer to his boyfriend.

"Yeah, he was our old school's dancing star," Yifan swung his arm around Yixing's shoulder, it was perfectly friendly when seen from behind but Yixing rubbed his cheek against Yifan's shoulder and chest, turning the gesture to an affectionate one.

"Why didn't you say?" Lu Han questioned as he started down the path and Zhongda tacked himself to his side.

"It's not important, I'm not doing anything about it here," Yixing briefly explained and edged himself forward, hoping to encourage Yifan to follow. "Are you okay to come with us? Or are you going back to your school?"

"I wasn't planning to go back without seeing you first," Yifan reasoned, tightening his arm around the Music Technology student's shoulder and Yixing found the pressure profoundly comforting.

"Do you want to stay over?" Yixing bit his lip hopefully and one-half of Yifan's mouth picked up with a smile.

"I'll need to go back and get my bag from the guys..."

"Ge," Yixing shouted down the road and Lu Han turned to face him quickly. "Is it okay if Yifan stays with us tonight?"

"Sure," the elder shrugged.

"We'll meet you guys out one we've dropped Yifan's stuff off in our room."

Yixing got a thumbs up from both his friends and he turned Yifan to face the opposite direction, they backtracked the short distance to where Yifan's team were waiting for him. He watched as his boyfriend spoke to who have must have been the captain and one of the other guys disappeared off somewhere before returning with a sports bag hung over his shoulder, he handed it over to Yifan and the tall male bowed to the others in his team.

"Let's go," Yifan's fingers gripped gently on Yixing's arm and the younger led the way around the gym and down in the direction of his university's dorms.

Once they were out of sight of everybody, Yifan shifted his bag to his other shoulder and clasped his hand in Yixing's, it drew them closer together and Yixing kissed at his boyfriend's shoulder a few times. They were quiet but smiling as they neared the building, they were giggling as they entered the block and outright laughing as they made it to Yixing's door. The younger had barely closed the entrance to his shared room when Yifan pressed him against the door to kiss him directly on the mouth.

It was a feeling he had longed for. It was as if Yifan's lips quenched the dryest thirst he had ever had within that short instance. Yixing's hands flew upwards to clasp around the elder's neck and draw him down, their bodies pressed together on the hard surface under Yixing's back and Yifan began to guide them backwards to the beds.

"The one on your right," Yixing muttered as he pulled away from Yifan's lips just far enough for his words to not get lost in the elder's mouth.

It was barely three seconds later until Yifan was on his back with the mattress beneath him and Yixing sat on his hips, the younger started to grind instinctively as their lips collided once more. Tongues thrust forward and Yixing whined semi needily when Yifan started to buck upwards beneath him. The two of them were ridiculously hard within a few rubs against one another and Yixing was quick to change their positions again when he felt how much Yifan's body was contracting in an attempt to reach out for more pleasure.

The Music Technology student was on his hands and knees with his ass firmly pressed against his boyfriend's crotch, he could feel the pronounced line of the other's cock pressed harshly against him through both of their clothes. Yifan's hand could be felt snaking around Yixing's waist to push its way into the front of his jeans and his forearms gave way to their quivering as he felt the elder’s hand tightly around his shaft.

He began to grind backwards as Yifan's thrusts forward began to increase in their velocity. Yixing couldn't contain the whimpers and whines that left his throat whenever Yifan's hand moved against him or when he felt the hard press of Yifan's cock against the cleft of his ass.

It was the best thing he'd felt in weeks. The short instances in his bed at the dead of night and in the shower were nothing compared to having somebody else get him off. Yifan's large hands were almost enough to cover the whole of Yixing's member, it meant the rough heat could be felt across a far more expansive stretch of skin.

"Yes," he keened into the duvet below. "This is what I've wanted."

He could hear Yifan laugh out behind him and the smile on his lips was uncontrollable as the chuckle was replaced by a deep moan as Yifan stuttered against him. The elder's fingers were pulling Yixing's foreskin back only to release it again, it was exactly what he had been craving in the weeks since he had last had Yifan touch him. His boyfriend knew exactly what he liked, how to get the loudest moans from his throat and the ways to get him to clench tightly at the bedsheets.

Yixing was much the same with Yifan, though. It was instinctive to cry out in the way Yifan liked, it was second nature to wiggle his hips when he felt the bottom of Yifan's shaft and the swell of his balls against him, and he knew the ways to arch his back to have Yifan's lips against his spine in appreciation, clothed or not.

He could have easily got off like that, having dry sex face down on his bed, but Yifan's hand pulled out of his jeans to turn him over and have them facing each other. Lust was scribbled all over Yifan's features but it softened up when he saw how dishevelled Yixing looked, they had a moment of taking one another in before Yifan's hand was back in Yixing's underwear. The younger, too, pushed his hand past the waistband of what Yifan was wearing and his hand instantly felt the wetness of precum on his fingers.

Yifan was bent over Yixing's body, the younger was below while trying to buck up for yet more purchase in Yifan's hand and Yixing groaned loudly when he felt Yifan tense up as he came hotly into his underwear and that seemed to trigger the domino effect for him. His own orgasm chased him down and erupted in spurts of warm fluid onto Yifan's fingers and into his underwear.

The both of them were moaning and panting as they came down from their quickly achieved highs, it wasn't enough to eradicate all of the longing Yixing had harboured but it knocked a huge chunk out of it. The edge was gone, the pressure was back away from the red and verging on the green.

Yifan slumped down, he knew Yixing could easily bear his weight and the two of them laid in the sticky confines of their sullied underwear and Yixing shuffled to readjust himself when the fabric began to cling uncomfortably.

"We should change," Yixing mumbled into the mess of Yifan's hair that tickled his lips.

"Can't we just stay here?" Yifan pleaded gently, he was nesting down on Yixing's body and the younger was reminded of the endless nights over the summer he had felt the other do that on him. He wished he could go back, they were closer then and the miles between their homes didn't feel like so much compared to that between their universities.

"That does sound appealing," Yixing concurred, he didn't want to lose the heat of Yifan's body on his, "but we said we would meet up with Lu-ge."

"Do you have clothes I can borrow?" Yifan moved his head so that his chin was resting on Yixing's chest and the younger was blown away by how _exhausted_  the other looked. Sleep clung to each of his features, darkly set purple was rubbed around his eyes and his hair fell down, unstyled, onto his forehead.

"Are you feeling okay?" Yixing queried instead of heeding the previous question.

His fingers felt along the bumps of Yifan's face, the uncharacteristic areas of patchy break-outs and the fine layer of grease that painted a sheen over Yifan's skin. The elder leant into the touch and Yixing's heart ached. He already knew the answer.

"Missing you has been harder than I thought," Yifan's disclosure screamed in Yixing's head despite the way it was muttered under a breath. "I don't want to be clingy or dependent but living without seeing you has been the worst thing."

"We've done it before," Yixing whispered back.

It wasn't the same, though.

"That was different," Yifan aired; a mirror to Yixing's thoughts. "The distance couldn't be helped and we were younger, leaving at ten is different to being separated now. I loved you then but it's _more_  now. It's something else entirely."

"I know," Yixing's fingers drifted around to scratch at Yifan's scalp, just behind his ears in the way he liked the most. "But we can do this, we need to find a pattern and we'll slot everything into place as soon as we can."

"I feel drained where I am, baobei," Yifan's eyes fell to the side. He hated admitting such things to Yixing. His time in the west had taught him that extroversion was the desired trait—be loud, talk back, verbalise your every unimportant thought, be boisterous, act outwardly, view quiet and unassuming to be things that are unsatisfactory. The elder was an introvert through and through, Yixing only encouraged him out of his shell to stave off the loneliness in enjoying time alone. "I don't have anywhere to collect myself, I have no space to recuperate, I don't have you to recharge me to see the world again."

"You're doing so well, though," Yixing encouraged and Yifan's eyes fixed on his again. "I'm proud of you. Even going to practice enough to be selected for this game is an achievement right now."

"I know," Yifan nodded and Yixing craned his neck to kiss his cheek.

"If you don't have the energy to go out, we can stay here and relax until we sleep?" The younger's offer had Yifan nodding a little, somewhat like a small yet sleepy child.

"Will your friends hate me if I keep you here?" Yifan's voice was deeper, shyer. "You can go out with them and I'll wait for you here."

Yixing shook his head, his hands massaged Yifan's scalp even more and he smiled gently. "I wouldn't have much fun knowing you're here waiting for me. And no, they won't hate you for me staying here. They know how much I've missed you."

Not too long after, Yixing's laptop was pulled out from underneath his pillow and was opened up to let them watch a few films before they went to sleep. There was never a general pattern to what they did but no matter what, they always ended up watching _Fantastic Mr. Fox_  by Wes Anderson. It was what Yifan had dubbed to be  _their_  film. It was just childish enough to be an indulgence, so artistically made that they were in awe every time and adult enough for them both to feel satisfied with what they had watched.

It was also something they had watched together via video call when it had first come out and they were having one of their so called _'long distance dates'._ Yixing only had fond memories of the film, the warm tones in it were everything that made him happy and the fact that every scene was embedded of memories of Yifan was the greatest part. For him, at least.

By the time the _Whackbat_  part played on the screen, Yifan was soundly asleep on Yixing's chest and the younger grabbed his phone to take a photograph of the elder to attach it to his message of regret to Lu Han that they wouldn't be joining him or Zhongda that night. When Yixing closed the lid of his laptop to nestle down onto the bed, he was glad that he had decided upon staying in with Yifan.

He enjoyed their quiet time while pressed against one another. They _talked_  so much when they were apart that it was refreshing to hear the silence over them but the heat between them. It was everything he had wanted and missed so much.

They were a couple that didn't kiss too often, they had long since grown out of that phase but the need for touch hadn't ever waned. It was a large part of what made Yixing his happiest. There was also the point that having skin-to-skin contact with Yixing was very soothing for Yifan and helped to progress out of his shell an inch more every time. The Yifan that Yixing saw was different to the one anybody else got to witness and know. He always said that he was his rawest and most personal with Yixing whilst maintaining his ability to be teasing and affectionate.

It was a simple difference between the kind Yifan most were acquainted with and the adoring person Yixing knew better than himself.

There was a thrill to having figured somebody out so deeply, it was a feeling he had never lacked in all his years of knowing Yifan and his love for the elder never shook in its foundations. It was strong, sturdy and weathered by the social culture they lived in.

The couple were most likely to not be public in their near future but Yixing had known that the first time he had kissed the elder when he had returned to China from Canada. Everybody they cared about and loved knew that they were bound together, not only by history but by love, too.

Yixing turned onto his side and curled directly in Yifan's neck, the taller's arm wrapped around his waist in an instinctive response and he thought that was the wonder of being with his boyfriend. There was nothing forced between them, it was like slipping in together like the final lines of a design.

Sleep came easy and deep for the first time in a while and Yixing's mouth stayed curled up in a smile as he was drawn in closer to Yifan with every breath the elder took into his lungs while he was buried in his own slumber.


	3. October, Two

"Oh fuck," was the first thing Yixing heard when he woke up. It was deep, gravelly and more than enough to have him beaming as his mind arose.

"What is it?" He grumbled out, seeking more of the body that was twined up with his own.

"We didn't take our underwear off last night," the voice complained. "I think I'm stuck in my boxers."

Yixing giggled and there was a hand on his crotch to tug at where his underwear was peaking out of the top of his jeans, that movement alone had him groaning with the realisation that he, too, was probably trapped in his own boxers.

"Why didn't you remind me?" Yifan was whining, the pout on his face was audible in his words and all the smaller wanted to do was cuddle even further into his chest.

"I forgot, too," Yixing mumbled, it came out like a garble of sounds that were muted by Yifan's shirt. "We can go shower soon."

"Together?"

"If that's what you're wanting."

Yifan's arms tightened around Yixing, their bodies were warm with a thin film of sweat that went with being tangled so tightly together in the bed. Yixing was in awe of how much better that felt with Yifan by his side. It wasn't like the first few nights they'd ever shared a bed on, there was no aching arms or muscles, or even the tiredness that went with sleeping by somebody's side. He felt more relaxed, nearly as if hands had soothed over his tense spots in his sleep and the sandman had sprinkled his dust over Yixing's eyes to keep him in his deepest slumber.

"Your bed is so much comfier than mine, I should move in," Yifan wiggled his back and Yixing wanted to joke along with him but the idea of having Yifan by his side every night had him nestling in even closer than he had been. "It could be that it's because you're here, though."

"Will I want to vomit all morning listening to you two?" A third voice interjected and Yixing finally let out the laugh that had been sleepily suppressed within him.

"Sorry," Yixing mumbled and Lu Han's grunt was all he got in response.

He peered up at his boyfriend who had moved further up the bed to look down at Yixing whilst he'd been sleeping. Yifan's waist was what was the younger had been snuggled up to, his hands were lightly twiddling with the ends of Yixing's hair on the crown of his head and Yixing could feel his boyfriend's every breath on his temple.

"I feel gross, Xing," Yifan whispered and the younger sat up with a feline stretch.

Like every other time Yixing ever pulled his body out like that, Yifan poked his stomach with his index finger, which always had him laughing as it ruined the satisfying end to the stretch. He didn't mind it so much due to the fact that Yifan would appear pressed to his back a few seconds later to indent kisses down his nape to the curve of his shoulder. The younger closed his eyes and smiled when he felt Yifan's pointer finger pull the large jersey to the side and let it slide down his bicep for his lips to follow that same trail.

Yixing missed the summer, so much. His every morning had been filled with actions like that, as had his evenings.

“Uh, not to a spoil sport here,” Lu Han’s voice was enough to have Yifan jolting away from Yixing’s skin and pulling strap of jersey he’d let fall down back up onto Yixing’s shoulder, “I don’t really have the stomach to watch people get it on so early in the morning.”

The youngest didn’t even have to look at Yifan to know he was blushing, he was always shy about being caught in an intimate moment with Yixing and was probably embarrassed that he’d forgotten that Lu Han was in the room at all.

“I’ve seen you do many things, Lu-ge, and you never hear me complain.”

“Hey, what happens in this room between us stays between us.”

“Not exactly,” Yixing bit down on his lower lip.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I never keep anything from Yifan,” Yixing shrugged and he felt his boyfriend snort against his shoulder.

The colour drained out from Lu Han’s face, “Wait, so that means he knows about when you saw m—”

“Yes, I told him that I witnessed you drop chewing gum, step in it then pick it back up to put it into your mouth again,” Yixing muttered with a shudder and Lu Han squawked like a baby bird.

“I can’t believe you would do that to me,” Lu Han yelled in faked anger, standing up onto his feet and glaring down at where Yixing was sat with Yifan practically draped over his back. “I’m going to go where people keep my secrets, Zhongda would never do this to me.”

Lu Han, in his normal melodramatic style, stormed out of the room and stalked down the hallway, leaving Yixing to chuckle as Yifan began to kiss along the back of his neck affectionately.

The both of them stood up and Yixing led the way to the bathroom that he and Lu Han shared with their neighbours, they peeled their clothing off but left their boxers on. Neither wanted to be faced with the discomfort of having to pry dried cum covered underwear away from their bodies and they stepped under the same showerhead. The water was powerful and warm, exactly how they both liked it. Yixing had taken in his wash kit and set it on the shelf that was over to the side.

They took it in turns to soak and removed their boxers once they were fully sodden and the peel off was far smoother than it would have been had they both attempted it while dry. Yixing reached around to his waterproof bag and brought out the shampoo he had stored away in there. It was the one Yifan smelt in his hair the most.

Yixing saw the smile of satisfaction on Yifan's face when he squirted the translucent dollop on the elder's palm and one on his own, they proceeded to rub the wash into each other's hair. Like they always did when they showered together. Yixing, playfully, rubbed some of the shampoo onto Yifan's eyebrows and giggled loudly when the elder grumbled his dismay of having the foam on his face.

They took turns to rinse their hair out and Yixing couldn't stop grinning when Yifan's arms slid around his waist to press their bare bodies together. They had gone past the point of feeling aroused at the mere sight of the other naked—outside of a sexual situation, at least—and the shower had turned into a site more for affectionate intimacy than anything else. It was familiar and soothing to have the skin to skin contact he had been thirsting for across the weeks without his boyfriend.

Each action was so familiar that Yixing barely noted when Yifan's hands moved around to pull the body wash out and subsequently rub it all over Yixing's skin with light touches. He used the opportunity to massage where Yixing's muscles rose up and where they were tightly bound with his fingers, the zingy lemon scent of it hit Yixing's nose when Yifan's hands moved up to lather it up on his neck. The elder's hands made their way down until Yixing was propping himself up the side of the shower as Yifan's hands ran alternately over the soles of his feet.

He had begun to forget how it felt to be pampered by Yifan in such a tender way. It was saddening but there was something extremely satisfying about being appreciated after being starved of it. It made him relish in it more, so much more.

With towels wrapped snuggly around their waists, Yixing and Yifan made their way into the dorm room where Lu Han was back and sloppily dressed in a sports sweater and loosely fitting sweatpants. The elder rolled his eyes as the two males entered with their clothes bundled up in their hands and their hair dripping clear droplets to the floor. The only noise that could be heard was the muted pit, pat, pit, pat as the water hit the carpets below their feet.

"I'll go wash my face and brush my teeth while you both get dressed," Lu Han's words were muttered out with a sharp eye roll and Yixing's eyebrows met in the middle as he frowned at his friend.

Yifan didn't seem to notice anything of it as he dug his hands around in his gym bag in search of fresh clothes. Yixing found no insult in the fact that Yifan had packed with the intent of not staying at his dorm back at his school. In fact, he would have been deeply offended if the elder assumed that they wouldn't spend the night wrapped up in one another after the separation period they'd had.

The younger's hands found the soft material of Yifan's basketball sweatshirt. It had the older boy's number and name stitched into the right breast and the school's emblem on the left. The smaller male's eyes widened a tiny bit more as he turned to his boyfriend with the fabric clutched towards his body.

"Fanfan..." He drawled out, trying to be as cute as he could. "Can I—"

"No, Xing," Yifan's hands stuck out to take the item of clothing from Yixing. "I need that, it's part of my compulsory kit."

"But I want it," Yixing's voice deepened as he whined out, the words caught in his throat and he knew Yifan couldn't resist that sound. "It smells like you."

Yifan's lips drew in, it pushed the fleshy part between his lips and the jut of his chin to puff out, a classic sign that he was trying to resist the younger as best he could.

"But it's the team's regulations," Yifan prised the sweater away and Yixing let out a pitched whine in protest. "Stop acting like a baby, you're nearly nineteen."

"You call me _baby_  all the time," he pouted out, he inched closer to his boyfriend to hold the towel around his waist.

"When have I _ever_ called you that?"

"Fine, you call me _baobei_  and that's basically the same," he grumbled as his fingers found the bumped part of the fabric where it had been tucked into itself to keep it on Yifan's hips.

" _Yixing,_ " Yifan warned as the smaller started to pull at the towel.

The shorter feigned innocence with his next monosyllabic question, "Yes?"

Yifan's towel was undone in Yixing's hands and the younger began to inch it apart. His hands moved slowly, his intentions fully teasing and Yifan’s eyes didn’t falter yet Yixing could still see something begin to spark up in the other’s dark pupil’s

"What do you think you're doing?"

Yixing could see how Yifan tensed, the taller was attempting to stave off the feelings of arousal with his jaw clenched and wrists rigid with the strength tingling in them. The younger took that as a challenge of sorts as the towel parted at Yifan’s waist, he tilted his head to press his lips against his boyfriend’s sternum and trail them down in a lazily trodden path. He had to bend, his knees knocking and he lowered one bent leg to the floor. His hands were close to revealing Yifan’s lower half entirely, causing him to look up as he kissed around the other’s navel.

" _Oh my god_ ," a voice screeched from the door. "What the fuck, Yixing?"

"Shit," the elder squeaked as he tried to jolt away from Yixing and cover himself with the towel that Yixing still had clutched tightly in his hands.

"I'm sorry," Yixing yelped out as he sprung up to the floor whilst releasing the towel for Yifan to hold in favour of covering his cheeks with his hands. "I wasn't expecting you back so soon from showering."

"I told you I was only going to sort my face and teeth out," Lu Han still had a scandalised air of shock about him. "That's nowhere near enough time for a blowjob. Well, unless you weren't expecting him to last very long."

Yixing's hands fell down as he shot his smirking friend a flat look, Yifan let out an affronted whine. Every part of Yixing knew his boyfriend must have been mortified with the situation.

"Could you give us a minute? We need to, uh, dress ourselves and everything," Yixing's voice was uncertain and bashful as he spoke. Lu Han, who was polite enough to close the door, could be heard cackling on the other

Yifan was rooting through his bag and pulling on fresh clothes within an instant, Yixing wasn't too far behind and took the quiet opportunity when they’d both dressed to pull Yifan into a comforting hug as the elder began to chew on his nails unattractively.

"Don't panic so much. It's Lu Han, I know him," he tried to soothe but Yifan's hands were already shaking. "He won't care."

"This is horrifying.”

Yixing frowned and guided Yifan to the bed, he crawled onto the elder's lap and held him tightly. He tucked the taller's head under his chin and massaged the flesh under his hair as adoringly as he could. He felt Yifan relax against his body and smiled when the elder's arms drew around him to hold them both more tightly together.

A few moments passed before Yifan pulled away and shook his head, discarding thoughts from his head. "I'm sorry."

There was nothing but confusion in Yixing's head, "Why?"

"I shouldn't care about this stuff," was the simple reasoning. "You don't, your friend doesn't either but it gets me."

"You can care if you want to. Some people are more… _decorous_ than others. It's more than okay that you're embarrassed."

"Why aren't you?"

Yixing laughed a little as Yifan's question vibrated on his chest. "I was mortified at first, but it's not a big deal. It happened, we can't take it back and it's not like we were doing anything awful or untoward. We don’t have anything to be ashamed of in that department. Guys get blowjobs all the time."

"How can you say stuff like that with a straight face?"

"What? _'Guys get blowjobs all the time'_?" Yixing was laughing as Yifan nodded. "It's because it's true, surely you know that from all those bragging guys in the basketball teams you’ve been in. And, what's there to be ashamed of? I give fantastic blowjobs."

"This is why I don't call you baby, you shouldn't be associated with such innocence."

Yixing pouted and looked down at Yifan, who was smiling up at him. "But I'm cute."

There was a gentle knock on the door and Lu Han's head popped through it as he opened it a few inches, his eyes squeezed closed.

"Can I come in now?"

"Yeah," Yixing beckoned him through with a curl of his finger once the other had opened his eyes up again. His roommate made his way across the room with wary eyes on the couple and sat down on his bed. Yixing sent him a look and he knew it was understood—Lu Han wasn't to tease him until Yifan had left.

It was silent, Yixing was tense and Yifan was tenser. Lu Han, the wonderful roommate that Yixing had suddenly discovered him to be, spoke up, “I think I could do with some breakfast. Should we run out to that café we walked past the other day? The one with the cute lighting and the open-mic nights.”

Yifan’s hackles lowered and Yixing’s spine rippled with a pleasant pulse of happiness.

“What do you think, Fanfan-ge?” Yixing looked at his boyfriend with a gentle, shallow dimple smile.

“Anything you want,” Yifan’s voice was gentle, affectionate and filled with the level of contentedness that Yixing was used to, “ _baby._ ”

The pet name had Yixing squealing and Yifan yelped when the younger leapt from his lap to pounce on the hooded sweater to yank it over his head and wrap it around his body. Yifan groaned. His words hadn’t meant to be permission for Yixing to take the item but he took it as so. There was nothing better than being snuggled up with Yifan’s soothing smell around him and the warmth of the boy’s body next to him.

“You two are weird,” Lu Han observed without knowing the context but Yixing didn’t care. He was far too happy to have managed to get his own way and Yifan.

Breakfast passed by in a blur of Yixing removing the blueberries from his sweet breakfast to pass over to his boyfriend and Yifan ejected vegetables to Yixing’s plate from his own savoury dish. Lu Han scrutinised them, Yixing could feel the heat and weight of his stare more than enough to know for sure. He didn’t know what he was staring at but guessed it could have been that Yixing was acting differently than normal, he had always been told that he changed around Yifan.

They had strolled around the city for a few hours afterwards, the eldest of the three gave the couple more than enough security to share more intimate skinship without the badly hidden glances of people around them, and Yixing was happy that he could cling to his boyfriend with minimal judgement. It made him happy enough to scour stalls and stores while Yifan stayed quietly by his side, Lu Han kept making looks at the tall basketballer that Yixing couldn’t decipher and it made something slightly defensive rear up in his head.

He didn’t like it when somebody looked at his boyfriend with anything but happiness or admiration. It was strange. Yixing itched to pull his roommate aside and ask him why he had his eyes fixed on Yifan but he resisted, he didn’t want to make Yifan uncomfortable. He ignored it as best he could.

“I think your mother would like this,” a voice mumbled as a hand shot out in front of him and lifted up a charmed ornament. It was exactly the kind of thing his mother would pick up for herself.

"Should we get it?" Yixing mumbled as his fingers brushed over the item. "Double Ninth is coming up, it might be a good gift for you to give her."

"What about you?" Yifan questioned as he took the ornament from the hanging hook it was on. "What will you be getting her?"

"I'm visiting, so I'll probably make dinner and flower cakes for everybody. I'll be staying with my grandparents, though."

"Oh, okay," Yifan nodded his head up and down, Yixing's fingers felt for his and that caught his boyfriend's attention.

"You can come, too, you know? We always invite you because we don't want you to be alone on such special days."

"I know but it's a time for family, I shouldn't intrude." Yifan was always steadfast in saying that. "And I won't be alone, my mama will probably call me when our time zones match up and I'll call my grandparents in the evening, like every year."

Yixing didn't smile or say anything more, he knew that arguing against Yifan about filial festivals was futile because the elder always wanted to be with his family. Not Yixing's. It wasn't that Yifan didn't like Yixing's relatives, he adored them all, there was something that appeared to unnerve him about being the only person who wasn't blood or marriage related to anybody. Not to mention the reasoning that it acted to make Yifan lonelier than when he was alone; seeing Yixing interacting so caringly with his family on national and cultural holidays was enough to have him longing for his mother.

"Why don't you visit them? Your grandparents."

"I don't want to burden them, they're getting older now and I don't think I'm really ready for the passive aggressive comments about mama from my grandmother," Yifan left the conversation. He stepped away from Yixing, tugging his fingers out of the light hold Yixing had and the younger watched him talk with the seller.

His boyfriend seemed to shift out of his slightly glum mood instantly when the woman talked to him. He knew that Yifan was introverted but he was also incredibly charming, his smile was enough to soften up so many people instantly and his words were smoother. However, Yixing knew him as a complete dork who harboured a secretly sensitive side - not that such traits weren't charming in their own way.

Seeing that side of Yifan was what Yixing had fallen in love with and it was adorable for Yixing to see when he saw it seep out in public like it was when Yifan spoke to the woman ahead of him. He was showing his gums as he grinned, his eyes were slightly wider as they curved up and his fingers were twitching as he quashed his want to intonate whatever he was saying with his hands. Yixing had seen it all before and he knew that he didn't want to stop seeing it.

"So, how did you two meet?" Lu Han's voice was enough to bring Yixing's thoughts back to the present but his eyes stayed on his boyfriend.

"School," Yixing shrugged. "We were in the same class, we had the same friends and then he moved away. I was the only one who kept in touch."

“You were the only one who kept in touch?” Lu Han’s question had a stunned tone and the younger looked at Lu Han with a frown.

“Yifan isn’t good at making and retaining friends, he didn’t have many at school in the first place and often felt like he was piggy-backing on my friendships.” Yixing smiled when he looked back to Yifan, the elder was conversing with the woman deeply about what he was holding in his hands. “He changed schools a lot when he was in Canada and couldn’t form bonds with others that well. Nobody else really cared enough to keep in contact with him.”

“That’s sad,” Lu Han nudged Yixing’s arm lightly. “At least he had you.”

“Yeah,” Yixing’s face began to open itself out into a smile. “Getting to talk to him was always the best part of growing up.”

“How did you get together, though?”

Yixing drew his bottom lip between his teeth and sucked on it lightly, thinking.

“I’m not entirely sure, I think it was a natural progression for us. There was no big declaration or anything, we both kind of knew how the other felt and honoured that by remaining pretty loyal.”

“So you don’t actually have an anniversary date?” Lu Han was probing, Yixing could feel it and he guessed it stemmed from the fact that the elder had finally met Yifan, placing a face to a name. The two of them meeting made the other real.

“We usually give each other a card or something on the date Yifan came back to China from Canada,” Yixing shrugged. “It’s not an anniversary as such, but it’s a day where we spend time together and remember how it felt to see each other again.”

“You’re actually ridiculously sappy with this stuff, you know?”

“Yeah, my mother says the same,” Yixing laughed as Yifan finally paid for what he’d picked up and he stepped away from his friend to make his way to his boyfriend. Yifan looked over his shoulder when Yixing linked their arms up, the warmth passing between their clothing and Yixing tugged the elder away to lead him away from the vendor. Yixing could feel Lu Han’s presence moving behind him, he stayed a few paces behind and probably watched on as Yixing rested his cheek against his boyfriend’s arm.

“Are we heading back now?” Yifan queried, his voice was gentle and hushed down amongst the bustling on the street.

Yixing left the question unanswered but they made their way back in the direction they had come. After so long, Yixing savoured having Yifan close. He had wished to be pressed against his side as they walked through the city streets for weeks, it was almost as thrilling as one of their early dates. It was a gentle affair, all sighs and glances at one another.

Often, there was a muted scoff or tut from Lu Han and Yixing cast a glare over his shoulder at his friend. There was always a playful smile that greeted Yixing when they met eyes and he could do nothing other than a jaunty purse of his lips. When the streets cleared a little more, Yifan kissed Yixing’s hair that always accompanied a short nuzzle. It let the cool air onto Yixing’s scalp, swiftly being replaced with the warm puffs of Yifan’s breath until his hair flopped back down into place.

Upon entering the dorm room, the three of them stripped their coats and shoes off, only to be greeted by the sight of Zhongda sprawled across Lu Han's bed under the duvet.

“Good morning sunshines,” the Korean beamed, his mouth stretched widely whilst he turned over to look at them.

“Who even let you in?”

“Oh, the RA saw me sat outside and let me in,” he explained, sitting up and stretching as if he’d taken a nap. “What are we doing today? Are we filling in for our missed movie night today?”

Lu Han looked at Yixing and he shrugged, more than willing to go along with the plan but and he could feel the way that Yifan didn’t tense as Zhongda spoke that he was more than willing to go along with the plans.

As the eldest of them climbed onto the bed with Zhongda to get his laptop and pull up the film streaming site they normally used. Yifan nudged Yixing forward, the two of them nestling down on Yixing’s bed with Yifan laying down the mattress to rest his head on Yixing’s chest.

“Don’t they look cute together?” Zhongda stage whispered and Lu Han snorted so hard his laptop jolted on his thighs.

“They’ve been like this all day.”

“We _can_ hear you two.”

“You are supposed to.”

Yifan remained quiet through most of the morning, only moving around to kiss the top of Yixing’s head and part of the Music Technology student wished they were alone. All he could think about were the hours spent over the summer with the two of them alone, laughing and acting out loudly as they sang along to the songs in _The Jungle Book_. He knew it was the fact they weren’t alone that Yifan acted in a way that could only be described as reserved.

It was evening when Yifan began to fidget, his body no longer soft against Yixing’s as he stretched out on the mattress. It was enough to have Yixing pouting somewhat at the screen across the room. He was under no illusion that Yifan wouldn’t leave and he knew the elder would want to get back to his own university before it was too late.

He turned over, his fingers finding the chest of Yifan’s shirt and he nosed at his boyfriend’s cheek as he let out a gentle, “I don’t want you to go,” between them. Yifan stilled, only his head moved so he could kiss over the tip of Yixing’s nose. He didn’t want to leave either, it didn’t need to be said and Yixing couldn’t stop frowning as the silence cut through the happily comfortable haze of the day.

Yifan sat up, his spine clicking as he bent his body from side to side and Yixing followed suit. Nothing was said as they sorted themselves out, Yixing knew his friends were watching them instead of the film but ignored them in favour of helping Yifan place his items back into his bag.

Yixing considered standing in front of the door to stop Yifan from being able to leave, he could sense that Yifan wanted to be told to stay and had to bite his lip from letting the words slip out.

Yixing looked back at his friends once before he walked out into the corridor with his boyfriend, he let the door close behind him and Yifan glanced up and down the hallway quickly before kissing Yixing with his hands on the smaller’s cheeks. Their lips weren’t hungry but they were urgent, they were insistent in not letting the other part as Yixing gripped his boyfriend’s shoulders.

When they parted, Yixing felt his lips throb as they trembled with a mix of mild exhaustion and the onset of longing that would be between them. Yifan let his hands slip away when Yixing did, leaving them stood front to front in the corridor. They blinked a few times before Yifan stepped back completely. Yixing opened his mouth when their eyes didn’t stray from one another.

There was nothing to care for other than the moment they were in, Yixing dug his teeth into his tongue and he knew for certain that if he asked Yifan to stay, he would. The elder edged away and Yixing placed his hands on the door handle behind him, stopping himself from reaching out.

He felt like an idiot. They lived in the same city, they were a few subway stops away from one another but it felt like the distance stretched endlessly between them as Yifan walked backwards away from Yixing’s dorm room. Yixing didn’t cry but his knuckles were white and his fingers were throbbing as he felt the doorknob under his hands.


End file.
